More than 90 per cent of urban residents within the City of Ballarat will be within 500 metres of a designated bicycle track if the council’s Ballarat Cycling Action Plan is completed in full.
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The mammoth draft plan which exceeds 500 pages provides an outlook for the city over the next eight years, with council hoping to boost the city’s low commuter cycling figures.
Data collected during the Bicycle Network’s Super Tuesday count last year showed just 1201 trips were made during peak commuter times. Just 20 per cent of riders recorded were women.
Council is currently encouraging feedback about the document until February 20, with the finalised product to go before council in May.
Matt Briody from Ballarat Bicycle User Group (BalBUG) said while the group hoped all of the action plan would receive the green light from council, it was important at least one route was completed to highlight what could be achieved.
“What we're hopeful for is a first project that is really successful and then we can go back to VicRoads or state government and request further funding,” Mr Briody said.
If built the proposed plan would see a series of key cycling routes established throughout Ballarat, linking suburbs, public transport hubs and tourist destinations such as Sovereign Hill and the Museum of Australian Democracy at Eureka.
The proposal would also seek to establish links with recreational bike trails such as a track from the Ballarat Station, through the central business district and along the Yarrowee Creek trail to Buninyong.
City of Ballarat councillor Belinda Coates, who also chairs the council’s Active Transport Working Group, said women in particular were often deterred from cycling due to a lack of critical infrastructure.
“As a female cyclist myself I know how few of us there are, and we know from other examples that if we build the infrastructure people will come,” Cr Coates said. “There’s lots of benefits of getting women cycling in particular because from there we can get children and families active.”
The plan would also seek to make it easier for cyclists to store by introducing more specialised parking in high-use areas and by working with Public Transport Victoria to install bike racks on buses.
The City of Ballarat currently allocates $250,000 per annum for cycling infrastructure throughout the city, however Cr Coates said she hoped this would dramatically increase in the 2017/18 budget.
The unveiling of the draft policy comes as the Bicycle Network prepares to again conduct its Super Tuesday count on March 7.
